Local StoriesMay 22, 2023

Meet Monika Narain

Local Stories

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Monika Narain. Monika was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Comedian GAY-Z.

Hi Monika, we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up outside Chicago to South Indian immigrant parents who loved comedy (and me, sometimes). We were the kind of family that ate dinner (and lunch, and breakfast.) in front of the TV unwinding to a great sitcom, stand-up special, or SNL clip. My dad especially instilled the importance of being able to create and appreciate humor from a young age, and I’ve always loved cracking jokes no matter how much trouble it got me in.

Like most Indian immigrant kids, my life was heavily centered around academics and particularly STEM. I did everything from robotics clubs, to rocketry camps, to women in STEM mixers (I was 9 and definitely not yet a woman). I developed an interest in neuroscience in middle school, and quickly went all out, doing numerous kinds of brain research and, perhaps most nerdily, competing in a neuroscience trivia competition called the Brain Bee. For high school, I went to the Illinois Math and Science Academy, a public, residential STEM school in northern Illinois (basically nerd boarding school), which was an incredibly intense place with such a strange student culture that I continue to unpack in my comedy till this day.

I’ve known I wanted to be a scientist for a while, because I love science, and I love the freedom and creativity that research gives you. I’ve always been doing some kind of creative or performing art, from drawing, to painting, to singing, to that one year I did dance but my mom pulled me out because I was so bad at it. I never thought too much about comedy or writing unless it was for an English essay, and I definitely was never considered the “class clown;” in fact, most people consider me more serious.

When I got accepted to Duke, I guess I came to the realization that life was too short not to do what you want. I thought I’d study to be a neurologist, but that definitely did not happen, and I somehow fell in love with physics, my least favorite subject in high school, and started taking courses in screenwriting and visual art. I realized how much I loved comedy, and got rejected from basically every campus comedy group Duke had. I did stand-up for the first time last November at a show through my college’s stand-up troupe (for which there were no cuts, so they couldn’t kick me out no matter how bad I was). It was my first time on a real stage since the pandemic, and I was extremely lucky to have had such a receptive (and only mildly inebriated) audience.

At the time, I had just been accepted to an arts/entertainment Study Away program in LA, where Duke students had the opportunity to take classes at USC’s film and dramatic arts schools and pursue an internship in creative industries. I was mildly curious about the LA comedy scene, so I’d spent a lot of my Thanksgiving break looking up comedy clubs to visit LA – as a viewer, definitely not a performer. When I stumbled across the LA School of Comedy, run by the amazing Sunda Croonquist, and saw on their website that they were looking for interns, I sent in my application and the rest was history.

Alright, so we’d love to hear more about your comedy career. What else should we know?
If you would have told me that I’d be spending my sophomore spring semester of college traveling to open mics, getting booked on shows, producing my own shows, and hanging with some of the most fascinating artists in LA, I would’ve thought you were joking. I never thought I would go to the Laugh Factory, get accepted into comedy festivals, and talk with producers, writers, actors, managers, and entertainment executives who all share such an amazing passion for making people laugh. I never thought I’d ever get back onstage, and that I’d love it so much. And perhaps most surprisingly, that my parents still love me. Doing stand-up has truly been the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done, but it’s also the most rewarding learning experience I’ve ever had. Stand-up has given me courage, grit, confidence, and a thorough understanding of the LA public transportation system. It’s enabled me to learn a lot about people and meet a lot of incredible comedians whose jokes and stories inspire me to be a better person. Above all, it’s helped me find a voice I knew I had, but was always too afraid to use, and has allowed me to connect with people in a way I never thought I could. Currently, I run production, stage management, and occasional hosting for the LA School of Comedy’s live recorded open mic nights, and I perform all around LA. I’m working on finishing my first hour, and developing a few film and television projects for pitching. This fall, I will be continuing more comedy adventures in New York, all while trying to finish a physics and neuroscience degree at Duke University. As a hopeful neurobiologist, my favorite part about comedy is how much it feels like a science experiment – going into an environment with an independent variable (your jokes) and assessing its effectiveness through a very measurable dependent variable (laughter), and repeating the process again. And again. And again. And hoping some good results come from it. I aspire to lead a life where I can make a living being funny while taking both the sciences and arts seriously.

So, as we mentioned to our audience earlier, you were introduced to us by Comedian GAY-Z and we really admire them and what they’ve built. For folks who might not be as familiar, can you tell them a bit about your experience with Comedian.
I first met GAY-Z at the Yoohoo Room at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank. I had been in LA for barely a month and got lost three times taking the train there. It was an Open Mic at 5pm on a Thursday, which basically meant there were like eight comics there, all of them at least thrice my age, and the energy was dead. I had never bombed so horrendously.

When GAY-Z went up, she absolutely killed with those old guys, and it was one of those instances where I wish I could be jealous but I was just so in awe of her comedic talent and persona. GAY-Z has a unique power of making people feel at ease and bringing in a truly unwavering enthusiasm that’s hard to find in LA comedy clubs, not to mention an infectious smile and killer bandanas. GAY-Z has the ability of talking about the “othering” and sometimes embarrassing parts of herself in a way that lifts everyone up without putting herself down, a way that’s relatable and inclusive yet incredibly unique to her own story. As a newly minted queer comedian myself, I love how comfortable GAY-Z is in talking about her body, gender, sexuality, and the trials and tribulations of lesbian love life, which continues to inspire my confidence in discussing similar topics in my own comedy. GAY-Z is an even kinder and more welcoming person off-stage as well, giving great feedback and advice to other comedians, especially new ones like myself. Finally, GAY-Z is really committed to supporting other comedians every step of the way, whether it’s helping to book a show, making flyers, or giving a broke college student a ride home from across town.

It’s been a pleasure watching GAY-Z thrive in LA. Her ambition and dedication to comedy is simply astounding, and perhaps more so her openness and uncompromising authenticity. It’s been such a pleasure getting work with GAY-Z, and I’m excited to see where her comedy career takes her next.